Playoffs!

Welcome to the BoPostseason! In the past we’ve eliminated 20 teams in the Sunday Shootout. This year I wanted every team to get a full BoPo playoff experience, so we are doing a full week of play-ins. 32 teams play this week, 10 of them make it to the Bracket Board. All winners tonight play again Thursday for a shot at the big dance.

BoPo Finals and the Bowling Ball are Saturday April 28th, theme is Wet Hot American BoPo. Don’t miss it!

A couple notes:

Playoff games only go to 3rd game if necessary. If the score is 8-2 or more after 2 there is no 3rd game.

Parking tonight will be especially bad with a 300 person party on the West Side. We do have parking in the Gorham Savings Bank lot on Marginal way after 5pm (any spot that doesn’t say AAA). The city lot across the street from our lot is also fair game. Better yet uber or carpool.

Now lets see if I can go 53-0 in playoff predictions!

EARLY GAMES

Hazzard (2-10) -10 vs Bad News Spares (1-11): Well one team from Tuesday A had to play the play-ins, and Hazzard drew the short straw with their 2-10 record. They do have around a 150 pin per game advantage over the Spares. Buffalo Style will have the BNS ready to roll, and they did get a. win this year, but this would undoubtedly be the biggest upset in the history of BoPo if they won.

5 Finger Discounts (0-12) -8 vs Whoomp (1-11): Tough season for the Fingers as the only BoPo team without a win. Now they get their reward for getting beat up in A division all year though, a B basement dweller for the first round. They should be able to handle Whoomp. Totsie’s crew did pick up a dramatic 8-7 win in the final week of the season, so thankfully every team in BoPo should end up getting a taste of the winner’s circle.

Wrecking Balls (8-4) -8 vs Granola Bowlahs (2-10): The good news is Granola was able to move some stuff around so they could attend this game. They may still have trouble getting any points. They’ve had a few games where the pins were falling and did have their best team average yet, but Wrecking Balls are coming to the playins fully expecting to win two matches. Iceberg was a great signing by Swanny and gave them an all-star ace. They won their last three in dramatic fashion just missing out on the B playoffs. Look for them to cruise.

Strikes on Tap (8-4) -10 vs Puds Taxi (2-9): The Cleaner signed Cleveland the week before BoPo and the gamble paid off. He has had a huge season (and even made it to the final round of BoPo doubles) and Tap was a force in Tuesday B. Pud’s had a 2 win season, but getting that third win looks pretty unlikely. Still a good year as Bullet welcomed back old Captain Dink Mastercard. It’ll end here.

Splits Happen (6-6) -5 vs Lesbowlians (6-6): Well, every other early game so far should be over in two, meaning everyone can watch this game if it goes 3. Both squads had really up and down seasons. Splits lost a lot of close ones and did have Wejhed quit the team in the middle of a game, but finished with a win and are always tough with Xander. Capt Spare-O has been a huge breakout player this year as well. The Lesbowlians couldn’t ever get a streak going, winning some big games but then losing some they shouldn’t have. They are the reigning Team of the Year – they’ll rally together to take this to game 3 but ultimately I think Spare-O is too much.

My Balls (6-6) -5 vs Pinups (5-5): On paper the best match of the Earlies, and that’s still with a 50 pin advantage for Balls. This is a new look My Balls as familiar names Barry Violet and Wej totalled only 7 games between them. It’s now Cygnus and Luna’s squad and they are rock solid. The Pinups had a hot start and an awesome podcast appearance, but this is a tough one. Big Ern is an 11th year captain, and these franchises are both original squads, so hopefully we get an old-fashioned showdown.

Late Games

Tattoos and Titties (1-10) -10 vs Three Livers (1-11): Hey bruh, let’s party! This should be short but entertaining game. Each team got one win this season so at least that’s out of the way. T&T showed some life the last few weeks with Rubbys and Greggoppolo putting up some 200s. The Livers don’t do that very often. Bernie and Pearl will go down swinging and drinking, but this is over in 2.

Bowled and Beautiful (1-11) -10 vs Strike City (1-11): Strike City entered the BoPo scene this year like a comet. A comet made up of giant dudes. They did keep old captain Col. Angus’ tradition of the palm-bruising high five alive. They’ll dig their first taste of playoffs. B&B struggled to get wins but stayed competitive all season. They will win tonight and keep hopes alive for making the Bracket.

Roll Another (7-5) -3 vs The Burners (2-10): Something about this game makes me think it’ll go three despite the average mismatch. Burners have put in a ton of time at the lanes their first season, practicing daily and even playing R&B league on Sundays. They are coming in confident they can pull off the upset. Roll Another always seems surprised and relieved when they win (especially Uncle Buck). They seem more surprised than anyone that they have a banner on the wall, but they do, and they should win here, just think it might be closer than expected.

FC Portland (7-5) -1 vs BILF (4-8): Finally a close one! This is our best bowloff chance of the night. Ramrod has the Chuckits winning games and he’ll be in playoff form to play old pal Major Danks. He’s hoping he get Oolie on the lanes to help out. BILF had a three game win streak tucked into that 4-8 record, and occasionally show some signs of life. They’ll be fired up tonight too knowing this match is up for grabs. Hoping for a Deloose Cannon sighting.

ICBING (6-6) -3 vs Ball That (4-8): Ball That actually has the average advantage in this one. It’d be even bigger but for ICBING’s late season addition of Suave Lefty for a couple weeks. He won’t be in the playoffs but he may have jumpstarted Fabio and Co. Ball That has had a struggle of a season in B and Samsquampch has missed a lot of games. I don’t assume he’ll be there, so I’ll take the hungrier ICBING squad.

Incredibowls (6-6) -7 vs Happy Hands (5-7): I thought Incredibowls would be in B playoffs and they probably did too. We’ll see if they can stay focused now that they have to play their way through to next week. Kiss My Pabst has been a great signing and GoT always brings it for playoffs. Sasha’s Hands are dangerous. Her MMM lineup Munj, Mookie and Marv can all have big games, and they come in fully expecting to compete and win, but I do think the Incredibowls have a little too much firepower.